


Lost and Found

by Blue_Sparkle



Series: Stories of Dwarves, a Hobbit, and their Souls [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, One Shot, daemon!AU - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 09:31:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1546001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Sparkle/pseuds/Blue_Sparkle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daemon AU: a child appears on the market, searching for its daemon, and Nori's love for shiny things that aren't his starts early.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost and Found

The merchant wasn’t busy that moment; everyone around was packing and unpacking their belongings into carts or setting up their stalls. The merchant himself was just tying his secured boxes to his little wagon, and he was about to get his pony and leave for the little town’s gates, when everyone heard the sob.

The merchant’s polecat daemon cried out in sympathy as the boy stumbled past the stalls and the surprised onlookers. He was dressed in old clothes, all a bit torn and dusty in places, but that wasn’t unusual for children his age and in this area. His braids were done neatly, and he or someone in his family had taken great care with the pretty red brown hair of his.

Apart from that, the boy looked utterly terrible. He was pale and shivering, his face had a sickly hue to it and he appeared to struggle with walking. 

Everyone noticed that much immediately, and there were the worried voices of Dwarves and daemons filling the air. It took them all a little longer to notice that the boy was alone. _Completely_ alone, with no daemon by his side.

“Lad, what happed to you, are you alright!?”

The boy shivered into his touch once the merchant dashed up to him, holding him steady lest he’d fall over. One could never know how weak a separation could leave someone, especially a child.

Everyone flocked around them, trying to help and see whether the child needed anything, and all ready to do whatever they could to help. Everyone was chattering about, but thankfully they shut up when the boy started speaking.

“I can’t find her,” he whined, voice sounding broken and so so weak. 

“Your daemon?” the merchant asked, and pressed a hand to the boy’s back when he started swaying.

“Yes, yes, we were just playing but she fell and I couldn’t fit through and I think she’s…”

He shivered again, and the merchant picked him up in his arms so that he wouldn’t have to waste energy on simply trying to stand.

“She fell into the sewer and I don’t know where she got out? If at all, I can’t, I can’t _feel_ where she is!”

There was a sharp intake of breath all around them and the merchant felt his daemon shift uncomfortably. 

It wasn’t unusual that Dwarf children lost sight of their daemons, and once they grew older they learned to remain at some distance comfortably, especially warriors and miners. But such a young boy being so far away that everyone could see the effect and that he couldn’t even feel her… That was terrible.

“We will find her for you!” the merchant hastily promised, and the boy made a grateful sob.

Voices were asking then, whether he needed any help, whether he wanted water or a blanket, and where he thought he’d last seen his daemon and what she was, if she had already settled.

The boy just looked tired, muttered about his daemon being a terrier and listened to the name Tam. Everyone would go looking, of course, they’d find her and the boy would be fine.

The merchant carefully put the boy between some boxes and jars on his cart, tucked him into a blanket and then promised that Tam would be returned to him in no time. Then he ran of to help the others find the daemon. Nobody could just stand by when a child was in need after all.

*-*-*-*

Kat watched everyone run past, from where she was perched underneath a bench a few streets away from the square she had seen Nori disappear to. Nobody noticed her, not even the other daemons, who should have picked up her presence. They were distracted, and Kat was getting better at not getting noticed. 

Once they were gone and she couldn’t see anyone else, she jumped out from underneath her hiding place and ran towards where the pull she felt was coming from. She was quick, running from shadow to shadow as fast as she could, just in case somebody did spot her. Nori would be gone, off to one of their hiding places.

Kat didn’t need to be there as soon as possible, Nori couldn’t run fast enough to make the distance between them uncomfortable if she was moving, too, but best not risk it. 

They were good at this, already coming close to walking apart for as much as any adult Dwarf without feeling pain. It did not mean that Kat already got used to being away from him for too far. She didn’t like it, even if this was just such a good opportunity.

It wasn’t hard to climb up towards the abandoned attic Nori liked so much; they had picked it so that Kat could reach it without help. He was already there, of course, pulling out pretty silver chains and coins out of his pockets, and setting them down carefully.

“Good work!” Kat said, looking over the loot admiringly.

“You too,” Nori told her with a grin. There still was a sick paleness on his face, but with him not acting like he was about to faint any longer it didn’t look that bad. 

“Did they believe you?”

“Sure, all of them! Even put me among their things and I could fill my pockets in peace.”

Nori smiled down at the coins in his hands. The actual goods would have to be sold, or traded for something, without anyone noticing or caring about that Nori wasn’t supposed to have all of these things. But the coins were innocent enough, and could be used already.

“I think we should go down and buy some pies,” Nori said, and Kat’s tail twitched at that. She adored the smell of pies, just as much as Nori loved to eat them. “The good ones, with blueberries. And we can get some for Dori and Ori. If we are clever about it he won’t even notice that we weren’t supposed to have them.”

Kat smiled and walked closer, letting Nori run his hand over her fur, over and over, soothingly and taking comfort in not having lost her as he had pretended. He laughed and gathered his coins up in his hands to tuck them all away again.

“Did you think this would actually work though?”

“I didn’t expect it to work so well.”

“We two, we’re gonna get far in this world.”

Nori stood, and gathered the fox up in his arms, even if he was a little too small to be carrying her around comfortably yet. 

“They won’t know what hit them,” Kat replied, and curled up against her Dwarf with a smile, feeling how he was planning what else they could do next already.

**Author's Note:**

> I was thing about how Katira and Nori would work together to steal, and then thought of this ^^'
> 
> in this universe, all Dwarves have daemons, and can be quite some distance apart from them without discomfort, especially miners and warriors. Children keep very close to their daemons though, and it stays like that for a long while usually.


End file.
